CFP: [General] International Research in Childrenâs Literature (New journal)

The International Research Society for Childrenâ€™s Literature (IRSCL) wasestablished in 1970 and is a leading association for scholars ofchildrenâ€™s literature. The study of childrenâ€™s literature is increasinglybeing recognised as an integral part of literary studies, and the rapidexpansion of the subject area highlights the need for a scholarly journalthat is international in scope. Following our announcement at IRSCLâ€™s18th Biennial Congress in Kyoto, we are now inviting submissions for theinaugural issues of International Research in Childrenâ€™s Literature.

This new journal, from Edinburgh University Press, aims to be essentialreading for literary scholars in the field of childrenâ€™s literature. Itwill publish material from the IRSCL conferences, along with other, open,submissions, subject to selection, rigorous peer review and possiblerevision; book reviews will also be an important part of the journalâ€™swork. There will be four issues in a biennium: three will follow on fromthe biennial congress theme, with the fourth being a special issue. Thefirst issue will be published in July 2008. Submissions are welcomedfrom all scholars of childrenâ€™s literature; and are not limited to thosewho presented papers at the Kyoto congress.

Publishers and authors are warmly invited to send books for review, tothe Reviews Editor, Vanessa Joosen, at the address below.

To launch the journal, we now encourage explorations of the theme: PowerAnd Children's Literature: Past, Present And Future.

Childrenâ€™s literature has the power to help child readers to creatediverse and free images of themselves, and to recognize the process ofgrowing up and forming their identities. It can also give themconsolation and vital energy. On the other hand, childrenâ€™s literaturehas the aspect of serving state propaganda, imposing the social and moralcodes of the dominant culture on child readers, and potentially deprivingthem of their imaginative power, sensitivity and ability to think forthemselves. Bearing these positive and negative aspects in mind, articleswill examine the power of childrenâ€™s literature in the past and thepresent, and explore the possibilities for childrenâ€™s literature in thefuture.

Possible aspects include: representations of power in children'sliterature, production and power in children's literature, visual imagesand power in children's literature, and theories of power and children'sliterature.

Submissions might focus, for example, on topics such as:

Representations of Power in Children's Literatureâ€¢ Gendered power: patriarchy and children's books; feminisms andchildren's literature; sexuality and power relations.â€¢ Subjectivity and power: identity-formation; the politics of play;queering the child subject; children and sociality; power relations infamilies.â€¢ Racialised and nationalised power: race relations,postcolonialism, neo-colonialism; whiteness and power; children'sliterature and national ideologies; children's books as propaganda;political dissent in children's books.â€¢ Class and power: social class; class distinctions; readerpositioning and class; children's literature as a middle-class activity;economics and children's literature; work in children's books.â€¢ Utopian and dystopian tropes: imagined futures; new political andcultural formations; the posthuman; alternative societies; changing powerrelations and children's books; new technologies and power; directions innational literatures.â€¢ World politics and power: eco-criticism and children's books;nature, culture and power; world power blocs; terrorism and anti-terrorism; refugee narratives; global media and power; the 'war onterrorism' and children's literature; global politics and children'sbooks.

Production and Power in Children's Literatureâ€¢ Power in writing and publishing: self-censorship by authors andillustrators; publishers and the state; censorship and its operations;dissemination of books.â€¢ Institutions and power: schools, library systems, publishers,booksellers; the dynamics of choice; children and their reading; books ascultural capital.â€¢ Child readers and power: childrenâ€™s access to books; children asconsumers; reader positioning and power.â€¢ Language and power: the hegemony of English; power andtranslation, cultural inflection and transgression; standard and non-standard languages and power; dialects and minority languages; status,power and language.Visual Images and Power in Children's Literatureâ€¢ Power in picture books and illustrated books: relationshipsbetween gender and power; power and interpersonal relations; the power ofplay; picture books and cultural discourses.â€¢ Comics (including manga and graphic novels) and popular culture:historical perspectives; comics and subversion; hybridity, comics andpicture books; ideologies and comics; politics and comics; comics andsocial class.â€¢ The power of performance: children as performers; the history ofchildhood on stage, film and television; adapting and representingchildhood in film/TV/stage; bodies and performance.â€¢ Subcultures and power: processes, ideas and ideologies inanimations; childhood as represented in animations; child-adult dynamicsin animations; cultural translation in animation and anime.â€¢ The power of video games: online communities at play; games,gender and race; power-politics and video games; video games inchildren's books; films and video games; video games as consumer products.â€¢ The power of photography: photographers and power; photographs inchildren's texts; photography and empire in children's books;photographic manipulation; identities and child subjects in photographs;documenting difference in photographs.

Theories of Power and Children's Literatureâ€¢ Psychoanalytic theories and power: displacement theory;repression and children's books.â€¢ Theories of mass media and children's literature: sociologies ofreception; power, resistance and child audiences; popular texts and power.â€¢ Theories of discourse and power: discourse analysis; dominantdiscourses in children's books; narratives and power.â€¢ Theories of canon-formation and children's books: how canonsform; relations between canons and cultural/political power; institutionsand canon-formation; national and international prizes and the canon.

Deadline and addresses for submissions:The deadline for the receipt of articles for consideration is 15 October2007. Please send these to the Congress Editor, Pamela Knights(pam.knights_at_durham.ac.uk), copied to the Senior Editor, John Stephens(john.stephens_at_ humn.mq.edu.au). [Please substitute â€˜@â€™ for â€˜_at_â€™ inthe email addresses: this is our attempt to deflect some spam.] Pleaseinclude â€˜IRCLâ€™ in your subject line, and give some brief informationabout yourself and your paper in the main body of the email. Anyquestions about submissions should be directed to Pamela Knights at thegiven address.

Key general points* Name and affiliation: to appear only on title page* Length: 5-7,000 words, including all notes and list of works cited* Language: English; computer set to UK spelling (-ise; -our [endings])* Font: 12-point; double-spaced; only one space after full-stops* Indent first sentence of each paragraph, including the first paragraphon a page or after a sub-heading* References: name/short-title + list of works cited* Notes: endnotes, not footnotes. Please do not use an automated word-processing system.* Single quotation marks throughout, with double quotes for an inner quote* Permissions: it is your responsibility to gain permission to reproducecopyright text and images, and to pay permission costs; permissions must be clearedbefore publication* Images. Send low resolution images (small jpegs), in a separateattachment. If the article is accepted, high quality images will be required.* Submit article as email attachment: WORD doc, or (for Macs) RTF; withIRCL in the subject line.* Your article should not have been published elsewhere, or be currentlyunder consideration by another journal.